I'm a softy. This slayed me.

So I just discovered Surveillance Camera Man.

This is basically synth patches, sequence banks and arpeggios pre-programmed on each instrument to form the full song and transition options as a whole when all allowed to be output together. The mixer is used to bring each element in at your choosing. The effects can be tweaked at will. It's basically like writing a song before-hand, then using something to control how it "happens".

Some live-PA sessions will have a synth or two available to actually play an instrument part live on the instrument used in the studio, but that's mostly to add either a more realistic "live performance" feel or to add the option to make on-the-spot changes.

In short, all live-PA is is someone manually directing a pre-written song versus just letting a recording play. With the option of deviating or, in some cases, creating content on the spot, which is not what is happening here aside from spontaneous FX and directing, as far as I know, since I don't have a recorded version to compare to.

I'm more just baffled that this was all done on hardware. I know it's entirely possible, but it's time consuming, expensive, and somewhat unnecessary. I don't even know what else he has going on in that set-up that he didn't show, but that kind of stuff takes serious dedication. I was considering getting a mixer myself so I could do this kind of stuff with pre recorded guitar, synth, samples, and stuff and do live improv jams.

It's not really baffling if you stop and think about it. Before the advent and popularization of computer-based production, it was always done on hardware synths. One was only limited by how much hardware they could afford. But nowdays, people are still doing the same things you see in the video, except it's all happening in a software environment and with more automation than a strictly hardware-based environment.

Basically, what you see in that video is just a more laborious way to do the same thing in software. The sonic characteristics may be different in either, but the overall result is possible either way. Technology has just allowed us to be able to do things easier. But as far as actually creating the sounds, the same process is involved whether on hardware or software. The only thing that's happening here in the video is a manual execution of the song.

Plastimake | Plastic you can shape with your hands

Must have.

Isn't that basically just Play-Doh? As much fun as it was, without any real artistic ability you were kind of limited in what you could create. With the expectations of an adult that kind of thing probably wouldn't have nearly the charm as when you were a kid. LEGOs are kind of the same way. It's harder to be satisfied with the simple constructs my not-particularly-arty brain could come up with when I don't have the easy-to-please nature and overactive imagination of a child.

Sigh. It gets harder and harder to keep alive my inner child as the years go by. I need comic books and cartoons created by better manchildren than I to keep up. Thank god for my nearly unrivaled immaturity. I don't know if I'd have the dedication otherwise.

Quitcher dam whining.

I plan on buying enough to make a guitar.